Bad managers cost companies billions but can be improved rather than replaced
Research consistently shows that half of managers are rated as fair or worse, and half of managers fail within two years, regardless of whether they’re hired into the company or are newly promoted internally. CEOs routinely say that leadership is one of the most difficult skills to find and that the lack of effective leaders throughout the organization is one of their greatest issues. This high rate of leadership failure is a crisis for the managers and for companies. It’s part of why record numbers of managers are unhappy.
In the past, these derailed managers had no options – leadership programs and workshops rarely helped and only the executive team could get a coach. They staggered along or flamed out.
How to fix bad managers – and how not to
Bad managers can be improved – but it’s not easy. Most managers derail because of deeply-rooted personality issues or personal challenges or hangups. Most managers do not fail because of lack of knowledge about how to be a better manager. And that’s why leadership workshops, seminars and trainings rarely work. They don’t address the real problem. 
But new kinds of leadership programs using technology give these leaders a chance to improve in a program that’s effective and affordable for their companies. These digital coaching services use technology to combine the best of coaching with other leadership tools to provide a full stack, complete leadership development experience.
They’re Personalized
Leadership development isn’t one-size-fits-all. Being a better leader means addressing deeply held comfort zones and ways of behaving. And changing those patterns has to include a focus on the specific issues for each leader. Digital coaching starts with an individual needs analysis for every leader to understand their growth opportunities, and the coaching highlights each person’s unique challenges, hang-ups or worries. The technology makes the program flexible enough to address each person’s unique situation.
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Are average leaders are costing you millions?
Read Why “Good Enough” Leaders Aren’t Good Enough
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They’re Comprehensive and “Full-Stack”
Leadership growth isn’t easy and takes a great deal of practice and work. Technology-based leadership programs combine different tools based on what the company already has and what the individual leaders needs. These programs often include learning materials, practice activities tied to the leader’s day-to-day work, personality and other assessments, 360 tools, text and automated activities to get leaders practicing and more. These programs are much more comprehensive than either coaching or training, combining the best of both worlds as well as new tools to provide the support leaders need. This full support is critical for managers making the difficult change from destructive leadership to positive leadership.
They Build in Accountability
One of the main challenges for any leadership program is accountability – how do we encourage leaders to work on the materials and use what they learn on the job. Online tools can monitor leaders’ participation and ask for updates on progress. The coach or leadership specialist provides an outside voice to push leaders who are not participating. The digital tools provide more ways to help ensure that leaders engage.
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This isn’t your grandparents leaderp development. See how it’s transforming with technology.
Read What Is “Digital Coaching” Anyway?
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They’re Effective
Coaching has been shown to have a 7X ROI – the value they create is 7X the cost. Online solutions bring the best of coaching with new tools to make the coaching even more effective.
They’re Focused on the Unique Needs of Early Career Leaders
The needs of early career leaders are different than the needs of executives and the development program should focus on these leaders’ unique needs. Digital tools, for example, have much more contact with the leader to provide accountability and feedback. For these leaders, translating what they know or learn into behavior is their main challenge and that can only be addressed with lots of practice combined with feedback.
They don’t break the bank
Digital leadership development uses technology to automate many of the things that traditional coaches otherwise do – meaning less coaching for more impact. As a result, the programs are more affordable while also being more comprehensive – a win, win.
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Employee engagement is 70% great leadership.
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What It Means
If you have stuck leaders, or you’re a stuck leader yourself, there are new services available to you that could make a major difference. These digital leadership tools make coaching available to everyone while being more effective.
Todd Murtha is CEO of Careerwave. Todd is a former workplace psychologist and CEO of a 350-person internet company. He is a frequent speaker on leadership, coaching and technology.
Careerwave’s technology-based leadership coaching service is effective and affordable enough to provide a coach to every manager. Whether you need to coach 1 leader or 100, and whether you need a full program or just an addition to your current program, we can build a solution for you. To learn more, contact us at info@careerwave.me, or visit careerwave.me.
Learn More About Transforming Your Leaders With Careerwave Coaching
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